First Look: Warby Parker goes Hollywood
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No two stores are exactly alike at Warby Parker. But its new store in Los Angeles — the eyewear brand’s 50th outpost to date — is more unique than all the others.
Located on Melrose Avenue, the new Warby Parker pays homage to Hollywood’s moviemaking history. It even has its own green screen studio where customers can create their own mini-movies.
The store combines Warby Parker’s signature library-styled design and fixtures with such location-specific elements as a classic movie theater-styled marquee with rotating titles out front, a Hollywood-themed mural by Los Angeles-based collage artist Alia Penner and a display of movie clapboards behind the checkout.
The most unique element of the space is the green room, where shoppers can make a 15-second movie, choosing from some 12 different backdrops, ranging from an outer-space scene to an aquarium with a shark. There are also lots of props to choose from — including any of the frames on display. Once the movie is completed, the shopper is given a social-media-friendly copy to share everywhere.
"You keep hearing that brick-and-mortar stores are in trouble, that brands are closing stores, but it’s always been our view that shopping — particularly shopping for glasses, should be a fun, social experience," Dave Gilboa, who founded Warby Parker with Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt and Jeffrey Raider in 2010, told The Hollywood Reporter. "We want to give people a reason to come into the store."
No two stores are exactly alike at Warby Parker. But its new store in Los Angeles — the eyewear brand’s 50th outpost to date — is more unique than all the others.
Located on Melrose Avenue, the new Warby Parker pays homage to Hollywood’s moviemaking history. It even has its own green screen studio where customers can create their own mini-movies.
The store combines Warby Parker’s signature library-styled design and fixtures with such location-specific elements as a classic movie theater-styled marquee with rotating titles out front, a Hollywood-themed mural by Los Angeles-based collage artist Alia Penner and a display of movie clapboards behind the checkout.
The most unique element of the space is the green room, where shoppers can make a 15-second movie, choosing from some 12 different backdrops, ranging from an outer-space scene to an aquarium with a shark. There are also lots of props to choose from — including any of the frames on display. Once the movie is completed, the shopper is given a social-media-friendly copy to share everywhere.
"You keep hearing that brick-and-mortar stores are in trouble, that brands are closing stores, but it’s always been our view that shopping — particularly shopping for glasses, should be a fun, social experience," Dave Gilboa, who founded Warby Parker with Neil Blumenthal, Andrew Hunt and Jeffrey Raider in 2010, told The Hollywood Reporter. "We want to give people a reason to come into the store."